A growing number of women are dismissing the career-driven conventions they were raised with, saying no to full-time work; believing instead that every household needs one primary caretaker - the mother.

One year ago, Kelly Makino, 33, quit her job running a program for at-risk children to stay home full time, because, she says, women are better at that job than men.

The mother-of-two and self-described 'flaming liberal' and feminist, toldNew York magazine: 'The feminist revolution started in the workplace, and now it’s happening at home.'

Feminist housewife: A new breed of women believe that managing and raising their family is is a woman's highest achievement

Mrs Makino, who has a Masters of Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania, and struggled to balance long hours with caring for her children 'properly,' said that no amount of professional
success could compare to her happiness knowing her two children, Connor, five, and Lillie, four, were being looked after by her - not a nanny.

Her sacrifice of a salary pays her family back in ways Mrs Makino believes are priceless, and she is not alone. A new breed of young, educated, and married mothers are finding
themselves untouched by the notion of 'having it
all.'

For the first time since the
downturn of 2008, the percentage of stay-at-home mothers rose between 2010 and 2011 - and some of the
biggest increases have been among younger mothers, aged 25 to 35.

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Mrs Makino is now able to be present for her children no matter what - cooking healthy meals, helping patiently with homework, and
most importantly, devoting herself to teaching them life lessons, from manners to good habits, that she believes every child should know.

Patricia Ireland, left her job as a wealth adviser three years ago after her third
child was born, and she has no plans to go back to
work.

Rather than a a sacrifice, she feels it is a privilege to oversee 'not
just what they do, but what they believe, how they talk to other
children, what kind of story we read together. That’s all dictated by
me. Not by my nanny or my babysitter.'

Her husband, who also works in fiance, deposits his monthly paycheck in their joint
account.

'I’m really grateful that my husband and I have fallen into
traditional gender roles without conflict,' Mrs Ireland said.

'Family is what is
important in life - not pushing papers at some crap job'

'I’m not
bitter that I’m the one home and he goes to work. And he’s very happy
that he goes to work.'

Meanwhile Facebook COO and mother-of-two, Sheryl Sandberg, in her new
book, Lean In, argues
that a generation of tougher, stronger and more strategic women are needed to equalize U.S. workplaces.

But
Mrs Makino and Mrs Ireland are among those who view managing their
children's lives, and their household, as their highest achievement.
They believe they are better equip for the job than their husbands, and
are blissfully happy in their decision.

'Some days I just have to pinch myself,' Mrs Makino said. 'It’s so easy, it’s so rewarding to live this way.'

She also believes women are conditioned to
be more patient with children, to be better multitaskers, and to be more
tolerant of the daily grind of childcare.

Working mom: Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg argues that tougher women are needed to equalize U.S. workplace in her new book, Lean In

'Women keep it together better than guys do,' she said. 'Women are raised from the get-go to raise children successfully. When we are moms, we have a better toolbox.

'I want my daughter to be able to do anything she wants. But I also want to say, "Have a career that you can walk away from at the drop of a hat."'

One woman on
the UrbanBaby message boards recently wrote: 'I was blessed with the patience to truly enjoy
being home with my kids and know that in the end family is what is
important in life - not pushing papers at some crap job.'

New York
University sociologist Kathleen Gerson, author of The Unfinished Revolution:
Coming of Age in a New Era of Gender, Work and Family, noted in 2010 that a quarter of women would still choose a
traditional domestic arrangement over the independence that comes with a
career, despite all

She said more mothers believe 'that only a parent can provide an
acceptable level of care' and that 'they are the only parent
available for the job.'

Mrs Makino explained: 'I feel like in today’s society, women
who don’t work are bucking the convention we were raised with... Why
can’t we just be girls? Why do we have to be boys and girls at the same
time?'

Stacy Morrison, editor-in-chief of BlogHer, a network of 3,000 blogs for and by women, added: 'What these women feel is that the trade-offs now between working and not working are becoming more and more unsustainable.

'The conversation we hear over and over again is this: "The sense of calm and control that we feel over our lives is so much better than what is currently on offer in our culture." And they’re not wrong.'

In her much-discussed Atlantic piece, Why Women Still Can't Have It All,
Anne-Marie Slaughter called for better workplace programs:
more parental leave, more part-time and flextime options.

But even she admits this new breed of women could be on to something. 'Are there
characteristics inherent in sex differences that make women more
nurturing and men more assertive?' she asks in Lean In. 'Quite possibly.'

As they mature, women earn less than men and are granted fewer responsibilities at work. Since Betty Friedan published The Feminine Mystique fifty years ago, women still earn 77 cents to the male dollar, representing just a small portion of corporate and government leaders.

Despite bowing out of this fight for gender equality in the workforce, Mrs Makino said she is convinced she made the right decision.

'I know this investment in my family will be paid back when the time is right,' she said, referring the option of someday, when her children start college, figuring out what she will peruse next.

'You have to live in the now. I will deal with later when later comes. I’ll find a way. Who knows? Maybe I will be home for ever and ever. Maybe I will have the best-kept lawn on the block for the rest of my life.'